Metropolitan State University announces new dean for College of Management
Saint Paul, Minn.— It is our pleasure to announce the appointment of Rassule Hadidi, Ph.D., as the new dean for the College of Management at Metropolitan State University.
Dr. Hadidi comes to Metropolitan State from the University of Illinois – Springfield, Illinois (UIS), where he held the position of professor and head of the Department of Management Information Systems. The announcement was made to the university community recently by Amy Gort, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.
“I am pleased to join the very vibrant Metropolitan State University and its College of Management,” Dr. Hadidi said. “I sincerely appreciate the efforts of dedicated faculty and staff of the College who so well serve our students and the community at large.”
Metropolitan State’s College of Management offers student-centered undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs designed to serve a diverse student population with an applied, globally-oriented curriculum, empowering them to achieve career goals as ethical and strategic leaders and managers in business, government, and non-profit organizations. Notable College of Management programs include business administration, accounting, economics, finance, human resources, management information systems and supply chain management. (Learn more about the College of Management on the university’s web page: https://www.metrostate.edu/academics/management.)
“Dr. Hadidi has significant experience developing partnerships with businesses and non-profit organizations as a means to provide students with relevant learning experiences both in class and through internship experiences. Applied, experiential, and community-based learning are cornerstones of the Metropolitan State University academic programs,” says Provost Gort. “We are excited that Dr. Hadidi’s partnership experience will further enrich the learning experiences for students in our College of Management programs.”
Dr. Hadidi has more than three decades of academic leadership experience and has directed the development of several degree programs and certificates with face-to-face, online, and blended modes of delivery. He earned his PhD, MS, and BS degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He earned a BS in Mathematics and Statistics from Shiraz University.
He developed and offered the first fully online graduate level course from UIS in 1997 and directed the development of the first fully online graduate degree program at UIS, which was offered in 1999. He has been invited to deliver keynote addresses and workshops about online education in several countries, including China and Taiwan. His research areas include online and blended teaching and learning pedagogies; curriculum development and quality assessment, healthcare informatics, quality of healthcare data, and cloud computing. He received the first Hanson Professional Services Faculty Scholar Award in 2007 and the Faculty Excellence Award in 2016 at UIS.
Dr. Hadidi has significant governance, community service, and recruitment experience. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals and in international, national, and regional conference proceedings and has made more than 65 presentations at various national and international professional conferences. He has held the positions of president and at-large director of the Midwest United States Association for Information Systems and was the founding editor, and currently serves as the Managing Editor, of the Journal of the Midwest Association for Information Systems. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Advancement of Management.
Dr. Hadidi replaces Dr. Kat Lui, who retired in spring 2018. Dr. Allen Bellas, who has held the position of interim dean of the College of Management since July 2018, will return to teaching.
Metropolitan State University, a member of Minnesota State, is the Twin Cities public, urban, comprehensive state university providing lifelong learning, and competitive academic and professional degree programs at the bachelor, master and doctoral levels.